Differentiation of co-winemaking wines by their aroma composition

Co-winemaked Monastrell wines with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, at different proportions have been studied for first time in terms of its odor activity value (OAV) in young wines, aging wines (after 9 months in French oak barrels) and bottled aging wines (aging wines after 6 months in the bottle). The co-winemaking wines showed a different aromatic complexity as they were fruitier and sweeter than the monovarietal ones, enhancing their aroma characteristics, being more evident at 60:40 proportion in case of Merlot for young and aging wines and Cabernet Sauvignon for bottled ones. In terms of extractable oak compounds, Monastrell–Merlot wines showed the highest values suggesting that they may need a shorter period within the barrel than Monastrell–Cabernet Sauvignon ones.     

β-hydroxyacyl-coa-dehydrogenase (HADH) activity of unfrozen and frozen—thawed frog (Rana esculenta) legs

The β-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase (HADH) activity of unfrozen and thawed frog legs was investigated. The enzyme was extracted by either immersing frog legs in phosphate buffer 0.1 M, pH 6.0 at 25°C for 15 min or pressing them between trichinoscopy glasses. The enzyme activity was assayed using acetoacetyl-CoA as substrate and measured spectrophotometrically at 340 nm. It was possible by both extraction methods to distinguish between thawed and unfrozen samples although when the juice was obtained by pressing the HADH activity of the dilution was ～ 1.5 times higher than that obtained by immersion. The HADH activity was significantly higher (P≤0·001) in frozen-thawed frogs than in unfrozen legs because during freezing there is a release of HADH. No significative differences were found in the HADH activity in samples frozen in the temperature range -10 to -196°C. HADH activity was not affected by the storage time in crushed ice up to 6 days.     

Low-fat frankfurters formulated with a healthier lipid combination as functional ingredient: microstructure, lipid oxidation, nitrite content, microbiological changes and biogenic amine formation

Oil (healthier lipid combination of olive, linseed and fish oils)-in-water emulsions stabilized with different protein systems (prepared with sodium caseinate (SC), soy protein isolate (SPI), and microbial transglutaminase (MTG)) were used as pork backfat replacers in low-fat frankfurters. Microstructure, lipid oxidation, nitrite content, microbiological changes and biogenic amine formation of frankfurters were analyzed and found to be affected by the type of oil-in-water emulsion and by chilling storage (2° C, 41 days). Although the lipid oxidation levels attained were low, replacement of animal fat by healthier oil combinations in frankfurter formulation did promote a slight increase in lipid oxidation. Residual nitrite was affected (P < 0.05) by formulation and storage. Only 51-61% of the added nitrite was detectable in the product after processing and 17-46% at the end of storage. The microbial population was low in all formulations during chilling storage. Spermine was the most abundant amine (19-20 mg/kg), but similar in level to all samples.     

Resistant Starch Content and Structural Changes in Maize (Zea mays) Tortillas During Storage

Storage of maize products such as tortillas may cause starch retrogradation and lead to resistant starch (RS) formation. This study was carried out to determine if storage of maize tortillas under refrigerated conditions enhanced RS content and/or modified RS structure. Improved Costeño variety maize grain was nixtamalized and processed into tortillas which were stored for five and ten days at 5°C. Total resistant starch (TRS) and retrograded resistant starch (RRS or RS3) contents were determined on raw and nixtamalized maize grain and tortillas stored for zero, five and ten days. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and near‐infrared (NIR) spectroscopy were use to evaluate structural changes in retrograded resistant starch isolated from each sample type. Total starch content was 67 ± 1.5% for all samples, TRS ranged from 3.3% in the raw grain at 7.2% in tortillas stored for ten days, while RRS starch content ranged from 0% in the raw grain to 3.2% in tortillas stored for ten days. DSC showed endothermic transitions corresponding to amylopectin and amylose retrogradation, at 31.9 and 139.7°C in RRS from tortillas stored for five days, and at 47.9 and 146°C in RRS from tortillas stored for ten days. These values agreed with the higher total RS content recorded after prolonged storage. XRD revealed a starch crystallinity of 13.7% in tortillas stored for five days and 15.3% in those stored for ten days. NIR spectroscopy analysis showed evidence of structural changes in polymeric order that were more pronounced in RRS of tortillas stored for ten days, due to increase in crystalline region.     

Convolutional Neural Networks for Mechanistic Driver Detection in Atrial Fibrillation

The maintaining and initiating mechanisms of atrial fibrillation (AF) remain controversial. Deep learning is emerging as a powerful tool to better understand AF and improve its treatment, which remains suboptimal. This paper aims to provide a solution to automatically identify rotational activity drivers in endocardial electrograms (EGMs) with convolutional recurrent neural networks (CRNNs). The CRNN model was compared with two other state-of-the-art methods (SimpleCNN and attention-based time-incremental convolutional neural network (ATI-CNN)) for different input signals (unipolar EGMs, bipolar EGMs, and unipolar local activation times), sampling frequencies, and signal lengths. The proposed CRNN obtained a detection score based on the Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.680, an ATI-CNN score of 0.401, and a SimpleCNN score of 0.118, with bipolar EGMs as input signals exhibiting better overall performance. In terms of signal length and sampling frequency, no significant differences were found. The proposed architecture opens the way for new ablation strategies and driver detection methods to better understand the AF problem and its treatment.     

Liquid chromatographic determination of free and total sulphites in fresh sausages

The present work describes a method for the determination of free and total sulphite in fresh sausages and its implementation on 48 samples. The method includes the extraction of sulphite, both free and total, by dissolution of the sample in a suitable solvent and determination by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The method is that previously reported by Kim and Kim (J Food Sci 51 1986 1360–1361) improved by certain modifications the principal of which consists of working atpH 10 for the extraction of total sulphite. Use of this pH permits reversible dissociation of the combined sulphite. In reproducibility assays carried out on sausages, variation coefficients of 3.3 and 5% were obtained for free and total sulphite, respectively. To evaluate recovery, sulphite was added to the samples as hydroxymethylsulphonate. Mean recovery was 86.4% with a variation coefficient of 3.8%. In 62% of the sausages analysed, amounts of total sulphites higher than 450 μ SO₂ g^?1 were found. Among the samples, considerable variation was observed in the distribution of sulphite between the free and combined forms.